Winter Planting Extravaganza
Native plants bring beauty and habitat value to your garden, and winter is the best time to plant natives. Our Winter Planting Extravaganza includes two online plant sales and a Seed and Cutting Exchange!
Online Plant Sales
Order pickup for both of these plant sales will be at the Peninsula Conservation Center on Sunday, January 21, 2024 before and during the Seed and Cutting Exchange.
Seed and Cutting Exchange - Sunday, January 21, 2024
Are you a gardener on a budget? Do you like growing things "from scratch"? This is your opportunity to share and receive seeds and cuttings of native plants. The event will be held at the Peninsula Conservation Center, 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto.
11:00 - 1:00pm - Plant pickup from the online sales at CNPS SCV Nursery and Grassroots Ecology's Nursery
12:00 - 2:00pm - Seed and Cutting Exchange
We need help with this event. If you have time, please sign up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F49A9A729AAFD0-46904115-seed#/
Read more ...
Native Plant Week:April 13 - 20, 2024
Did you know that California has more native plant species than any other state in the nation? To honor California’s incredible plant life, the California State Legislature designated the third week of April to be California Native Plant Week. Celebrate with our Chapter at one of the many activities we've scheduled during this special week.
April 13: Growing Natives Garden Tour - North (Menlo Park, Palo Alto, San Carlos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, and San Mateo)
April 14: Growing Natives Garden Tour - South (San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Cupertino, Campbell, and Gilroy)
April 16: The Beauty and Complexity of Evolution: Manzanitas as the Example, a talk by Tom Parker, Los Altos Library
April 19: Photography Group Photo Sharing Meeting
April 20: Lake Cunningham Native Garden Habitat Restoration
All Week: Watch a Native Plant talk on our YouTube Channel. All of our Zoom talks from the past year are there. Whether you are interested in gardening, native bees, plant science, or just like looking at pretty pictures of native plants, there's something there for you!
Other fun activities for Native Plant Week and beyond:
50th Anniversary Celebration & Fall Plant Sale
October 8, 2022, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Dana Center at Hidden Villa
26870 Moody Road Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Join us for a celebration of our Chapter's 50th Anniversary and a Fall Plant Sale. This free family–friendly event will have activities for all. No tickets required for entry to the event, but free parking for the event (does not include access to Hidden Villa's hiking trails and farm animals) must be reserved in advance. No free parking without an advance reservation -- parking on the day of the event is $10 and includes access to Hidden Villa's hiking trails and farm animals. Current Chapter members will receive a free commemorative pin at the event.
Read more ...
Wildflower Show Collectors
(based on an article in the July-August 2016 Blazing Star Newsletter by Stephen Buckhout)
Collectors are an essential part of every wildflower show; without them, and the plants they gather, there would be no show.
A Day in the Life
Collectors begin early in the day gathering all of the items they will need and loading them into their vehicles: bottles, buckets, clippers, loppers, extra water, newspaper or other material to wrap around collected specimens, a log for tracking the items collected, any required collecting permits, lunch, and clothing appropriate for whatever weather the day might bring.
Some days are hot, some are cold, and some are windy and wet, challenging even the hardiest collectors. Since flowers are best viewed in the day or two immediately after collection, there is little opportunity to wait for better weather. Collectors need sharp eyes, plant identification skills and a good memory to spot their target plants as they travel specific routes looking for flowers in bloom, collecting one or two samples of each to display at the show. They often work in groups of two or three.
Back at the Show
Once back at the show location, each specimen's identification is checked. Any specimens that cannot be identified in the field must be keyed to determine the correct identification, work often done by the same individuals who did the collecting.
After identification is verified, the plant samples are placed in a display bottle and handed off to a runner, who will pull the corresponding species card and place the specimen in the appropriate location based on either the correct plant family or the relevant plant community. In the absence of runners, some collectors pull their own cards and place their specimens in the correct locations.
Collectors are among the last to leave the show location on the day prior to the event and may never be seen by those who attend the show. In a sense, they are like Santa Claus and his elves, toiling behind the scenes to deliver beautiful gifts to a public they may never meet.
Thanks to our Collectors!
Wildflower Show - 2024
Bringing Biodiversity Home
Please join us on Saturday, April 27, 2024 from 9:30 am - 4 pm for our 49th Wildflower Show at West Valley College. This family-friendly event features hundreds of native wildflowers and plants on display as well as a variety of activities for all ages. The event and parking are all free to the public.
The show will feature hundreds of species of wildflowers and native plants from Santa Clara, San Mateo and surrounding counties gathered and identified by our volunteer collectors. In addition to local plants, we will have a section featuring flowers from native plant gardens in our Chapter.
The theme of our 2024 show is Bringing Biodiversity Home
Talks
| Talk |
Time |
Presenter |
| SOD Blitz Kickoff |
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM |
Matteo Garbelotto Ph.D., Director U.C. Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory; Douglas Schmidt, Ph.D. |
| Creating Habitat and Beauty in your Garden with Native Plants |
11:00 AM - 11:45 PM |
Bart O’Brien |
| Gardening for Biodiversity |
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM |
John Kehoe |
| Gardening for Birds |
1:00 PM –1:45 PM |
Ann Hepenstal |
A selection of native plants and native plant art, t-shirts, books and other related goods will be available for purchase. A SOD (Sudden Oak Death) Blitz Station will be available at the show for people who would like to participate in the 2023 SOD Blitz. More information is available at sodblitz.org.
Workshops and Tours
| Event |
Time |
| Wildflower arrangement with Madeline Morrow |
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM |
| Botanical Photography with your Phone with Valentina Lyau |
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM |
| Moon Garden tour with Leticia Gallardo and Molly Schrey |
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM |
| Vasona Creek tour with Scott Ludwig |
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM |
| Macrophotography with Steve Rosenthal |
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM |
| BioBlitz and Phone Macrophotography with Merav Vonshak |
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM |
Music
Shop!
- CNPS SCV: Used and new books, t-shirts & posters
- CNPS SCV Nursery
- Coyote Brush Studios
- CANativeSeeds (California Native Seeds)
- Emily Chin Pressed Flower Jewelry and more
- Simple Wealth - Jewelry from recycled copper pipe and broken brass drum cymbals
Information Tables
Volunteer!
The show depends on volunteers - please consider helping if you have time. It's a great way to meet new people while learning more about the plants. Sign up here.
The West Valley College campus is located at 14000 Fruitvale Avenue in Saratoga. The show will be located in the Biology wing of the Science and Math buildings, which parallels Allendale Avenue. Free parking in lots 2 and 3 during the event.
Wildflower Festival
Saturday, April 23th, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 3 PM
The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of CNPS is celebrating California Native Plant Week with a Wildflower Festival on Saturday, April 23. The event will be held at the Dana Center at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills, from 10 am to 3 pm. This event replaces our previously scheduled Wildflower Show at West Valley College on the same date.
We welcome the whole family with fun outdoor activities and an exhibit of wildflowers. Experts will be on site to describe different samples and answer questions. You can also stop by our wildflower seed table to take home some free seeds to sow this fall/winter. This will create spring beauty in your own garden – which can also feed nectar to butterflies, act as host plants for caterpillars, and provide essential habitat for native bees and insects.
Read more ...
2021 Fall Plant Sale
Native Plant Sale & More
Saturday October 9
There's a twist to our 2021 plant sale - you have to purchase your plants online in advance. From October 2 through October 7 order online from the CNPS SCV Nursery store and the Grassroots Ecology Nursery.
Then schedule a time to join us on October 9th at the Dana Center at Hidden Villa to pick your plants up and shop for native plant-related items from:
No drop-ins. Even though we will be outdoors, masks are mandatory. If you forget to bring yours, we will provide one.
Read more ...
Arcadia Place Pollinator Garden
Arcadia Place Pollinator Garden
This is one of several Palo Alto pollinator gardens created by landscape architect, Juanita Salisbury. They are part of the planned corridor to provide pollinators with food between the Baylands and Foothills Park/Pearson-Arastradero Preserve as outlined in Palo Alto's Master Plan for 2030. More information about the gardens and future plans is available in this article in the Palo Alto Weekly.
Plant List
Address on Google maps.
Grassroots Ecology's Nursery: Place your orders here: 
